Melodies of Life -- Final Fantasy IX

[Eva]

Oh shi--

The entire thing was a rouse to get the princess? What in the world made Tempus think that of all things?! Still, he had taken action, and the knights were already on their way to the stage. Azriel then took off with some interesting parting words. Cara let out a curse in fury. She couldn't believe it; what in the world were they thinking?! They'd be murdered!

Immediately reaching for her spear, she was shocked to see it wasn't there. Of all the times--!? She raged mentally, only being able to watch as Azriel leapt towards battle. So he was in on it? She was somewhat surprised, but she had one priority only. Jumping behind her seat to the aisle, she spotted her weapon on the ground. Very sneaky.[/I She shook her head as she grabbed it, going straight for the stage.

Unfortunately for her, the mage had unleashed a Sleep spell; all the knights and the civilians in the audience succumbed to it one after the other. Bringing a small vial out, she could already feel its effects on her, everything suddenly getting sluggish. She threw it into the air and as she fell to the spell, the vial came back down and hit her head.

"Owwww!" She whined, rubbing her head. She knew it would work, but she didn't think it would hurt so much. Fighting off a minor headache, Cara made her way to the stage, carefully weaving between people.

~

Meanwhile Aria was ahead of the game yet again; immediately ducking down into the ship, she picked up her dress and ran to Baku as fast as her heels would let her. I simply cannot wait to change from this confounded dress! She thought, and she busted through the door.

A loud sneeze and a laugh, Baku shook his head at the princess. "They messed it up, didn't they?!" He roared with laughter, much to the princess' desperation.

"You must understand! Tempus has gotten them onstage; we must flee!" Aria urged him, trying to get him to take her seriously. This was the only thing she despised about commonfolk; everytime there was an emergency, no one would take her seriously! She was the Princess of Alexandria for goodness' sakes!

To her surprise, Baku turned away from her, pulling a few gears, pushing some levers, and suddenly the ship shook as it started to move. "I heard you already, don't you get your pretty little head worried." He laughed again, though this time the ship shook much more.

Finally...! Aria bit her lip lightly. This has to work, we must be able to escape!

 

[King Naruto]

As Tempus's fireball smashed into the doorway, Cid stopped dead in his tracks. It was impossible for anyone to have seen them within the darkness but, then again this was Tempus. The man already caught on to them which made the prince very nervous. He wasn't one to lose his cool despite the odds...usually. There was a point in ttime when one would consider themself screwed. Well today just happened to be that day. It was all pure luck that Azriel was able to save their ass though Tempus managed to show up like the monster that he was. Fear had to have descended down everyone's spine as the moment went from serious to dire fast. Luckily for them, V was able to act fast with a sleep spell and fire spell in both hands.

Cid covered his mouth and flipped backwards to get out of the radius of the mage's spells. "Hey guess we don't get to give an encore. Let's get moving Azriel." The prince's witty comments would only hold one calm for so long. As soon as the montion to the airship began, Cara came to mind. Looking backwards, he could see the woman charging her way through the soldiers. He grabbed the scraggly piece of cloth hanging off his shoulder and wrapped it around his mouth. There were several sudden movements that involved Cid grabbing Cara's hand and commenting, "I swear you can jump 100ft but, by good your slow on land." With Cara in one hand, they both dashed onto the top of the airship.

Tempus didn't not care for Azriel for one considered master mattered not to a man known as the Tyrant of Death. The mage though was one of intrigue. He couldn't put his finger on it but, that mage had a very familiar look about it. For now Tempus would be focused on the mage's sleep spell. Lifting his hand over his head, Tempus could feel the effects of the sleep covering him. He had not prepared himself during this day like he would normally which gave V the upperhand. He would not fall soon as the airship began to fly away. No these fools were not to best him today. Lightning surged through his fingers before he aimed at the engine of the airship like a gun. "THUNDARA!" A large lightning bolt flew from the man's hands and struck the engine causing a large explosion. It was soon afterwards that Tempus fell over, asleep like the rest.

The engine caused the airship to fly uncontrollably away from Alexandria into the forest known as EVIL!

 

[Eva]

Cara was surprised when Cid came; as the two touched upon the ship, she turned to say something, but the ship took off, causing her to lose her balance for a moment. Before anything, however, Cara regained her composure, placing her hands on her hips. She wanted an explanation, and she wanted one now.

"You have to tell me, what in the world is going on?! Kidnapping the princess, of all things! Each of these men would be hanged for treason!" Cara was getting a little too ri;ed up, but truth be told, she was a bit hurt. "You could have gotten hurt, or worse, these thugs could've mugged you! Or worse!"

Before Cara could continue, however, she ship suddenly jerked for a moment, shaking to the very foundation. She turned to see a part of the ship clearly hit, flames erupting from the hole made. No doubt it was Tempus. Damn it...!

~

The ship was sailing off smoothly--for a moment, Aria was hopeful that things would go well. She took a napsack that had her change of clothes, but before she had the chance, the ship shook violently. Swing the bag over her back she looked out the window. A flash of lightning, and then fire. While not an expert at ships,

"Engine's busted!" Cinna yelled as everyone started running around frantically. "We're going down!!"

"It can't be!" Aria protested, running towards the deck. Before she could get far, however, she spotted V. As she called out to him, the ship went to the side, and Aria was thrown against the wall. Letting out a cry of pain, she couldn't stand straight--everything was turning so much, and before she knew it, the wood behind her gave way.

It almost seemed like slow motion; she saw the ground rushing at her, and as she turned her head, the ship flew farther, and farther away. Before she knew it, she was screaming as she fell, hitting trees and falling through them like a rock. She finally hit the ground in a rather painful thud, letting out another cry of pain as she gripped her waist. She had never been in so much pain in her life.

What luck.

 

[King Sora X]

Alizarin​

Everything so peaceful, everything so calm, and everything was just about to change.

While everybody was going through with the kidnapping of the princess, Alizarin Crimson, the thief-ninja was asleep. While everyone was doing their part in what was to be the biggest thing to happen in the Kingdom of Alexandria, Alizarin was catching some Zs. Even when her best friend of the Tantalus Troupe was hard at work, Alizarin was just resting her little ass off. She wasn't even aware of the fact that the entire ship was about to go down. Or whatever the noise was, it woke her up.

"What in the blazing hell is the commotion!?"

Alizarin's grumpy self awoke, and when she saw that the ship was declining, she started to spaz out. Like seriously, she was running everywhere trying to get some sense of what was happening. And then she hit the light bulb. No this wasn't a metephor, she really did hit the light bulb. It didn't knock her out, but it didn't really not hurt. It did hurt, actually. For Alizarin, to get hit was something to knock her off of her rockers.

"OWOWOWOWOW"

Alizarin started to scream and frantically hold her head while still running around. And then she heard it.

"The ship is going down."

Her eyes now opened up to what actually was going on, and quickly running out to the deck, Alizarin, and she saw the princess.

"IT WORKED! IT ACTUALLY WORKED!" She shouted despite the drastic situation, she freaking shouted out saying that the kidnapping of the princess actually worked. At the risk of the ship going down, but still~

 

[Mistearea]

The order from V to pull out was one of the best ideas that came to Azriel's ears in a long time. In all honesty, it was even better than the plan to get the Princess, but he digresses. With that order he breaks the swords apart at the hilt and slides them both into their sheaths before he covers his mouth and leaps backwards to clear the area of the spell combo. From there he makes his way to the airship only to stop when he notices Cid stopping and looking to Cara. Okay, so maybe hiding the girl's spear was not the best plan. But at least she stayed out of harm's way and didn't get in the way of their plan. Azriel watches as Cid makes the choice to go after the girl so he just makes his way through the bridge confident that the two would make it on aboard.

Or maybe not. With his balance suddenly put to the ultimate test he runs back to where he was just seconds ago and watches as one of the engines spurts it last amount of life. A curse leaves the lips of Azriel as he realizes just what happened. With that in mind he takes a quick glance around the air to try and find Cid and Cara both only to find nothing. He smiles at this and quickly makes his way through the area so that he can find the Princess and make sure that she's fine. Afterall, with Cid in another location and a group of civilians, she just might find some comfort in having a warrior connected to a royal family as her protector. But even at this he fails his duty. He arrives just seconds too late and watches as she falls from the deck towards the painful looking ground. At this point even Azriel is starting to lose his cool. This is shown in the fact that he himself jumps out of the same hole and braces himself for impact and to move himself to land near her, and not on her.

 

[DJQuackQuack]

With some miracle, some unpredictable and rare miracle, V's spell had succeeded. The Sleep was not only enough to stall Tempus, but everyone was able to get aboard the airship in one piece. Luck was on their side, and V was doing his best to contain his ego in this victory. The Princess was kidnapped, the Prince would be returned to Lindblum in one piece, and Tantalus Troupe didn't take any casualties. All in all, a success.

V knew this victory celebration would have to wait, as Baku was bound to give him a whooping the first chance he got. In order to delay the inevitable, V decided to take a stroll along the deck, for he enjoyed the fresh air up high in the sky. This joy walk was cut short, however, when explosions could be heard on the other side of the ship. Aria's voice then grabbed his attention, but before he could reply and finally introduce himself to the beautiful Princess, the ship flipped to the side. He dashed toward Aria to help her, but gravity was too much of a challenge for himself to handle, and both of them fell down to the forest below.

No time to cast spells, and none on reserve, V could only pray his landing would be soft. Needless to say, it wasn't. With his luck, V fell right between any tree, the one spot in the whole forest where not a single branch covered. With nothing to slow down his fall, V slammed into the ground leg first. By rolling forward upon impact, he was able to alleviate some of the pain. Still, that fall was no joke, and V could feel the pain throughout both of his legs.

He heard the sounds of Aria crashing nearby, and V made his way over to the source, limping all the way. "Princess! Hey, Princess! Are you hurt?"

 

[King Naruto]

The ship rocked back and forth as th engine exploded, nearly knocking Cid off his balance. The Tantalus Airship was falling fast and it didn't bode well for the young prince. Just the simple fact that an engine had exploded......wait that wasn't simple at all. The worst case scenario had just happened and no one had even thought this would happen. Balance was almost impossible as the boy began to slid backwards, hitting his back on the railing. Reacting quickly, he caught on Blank in his other hand while pulling Cara into him. Blank Hung off the side Tantalus like ragdoll, helpless like a corpse. Using whatever strength he could muster, Cid lifted his new companion back onto the ship like a boss.

The problem was that as he did that, the railing finally gave away under he and Cara's weight combined with the gravity. Falling beckwards, the only thought on Cid's mind was to protect Cara. It was like instinct that a mother would have her child and Cid had never had this feeling before with Cara. He held her closer while using his body as a shield to protect her. Finally he smashed into the ground with his shoulder making a loud popping sound. The prince not once wince in pain as he continued to hold Cara as they rolled across the ground. He had felt pain like this before so, he didn'[t care.

"Cara, are you okay? Seems like air space was crowded today." A grin formed on Cid's face as he looked down at her.

 

[Eva]

Aria thought she was dead. Or worse. With a small groan, she pushed herself off the ground, until she heard a voice calling to her. That must be... Taking in a small breath, Aria used a Cure spell on herself. all the minor wounds healed themselves, and beside her dress definitely getting ruined, she seemed alright.

As she sat up, she spotted the mage limping towards her. Rushing to get up, she tripped, though she got back up relatively quick. "Are you alright?" She asked, rushing to him. He was hurt--he must have bee thrown off the ship like she was. Extending her hand, she healed his injured leg with another Cure spell. "Are you hurt anywhere else?" She asked him.

~

To her horror, the railing broke--to make things worse, Cid had grabbed onto her and taken the full blunt when they fell. As they rolled to a stop, she looked up at him when he asked if she was okay. "No! Why did you do that?!" She yelled at him, though her expression showed otherwise. "Are you alright? Where did you get hurt? This wasn't supposed to happen...!"

Pulling him up to a seated position, Cara propped him up the best she could. She couldn't believe it; it should have been the other way around! She was supposed to protect him! Still, there was something in her heart that lit up when he just grinned at her. She let out a sigh, taking Cid's hand into her own two. "I...I can't forgive myself if something happens to you..." She whispered, on the verge of tears at this point.

 

[Mistearea]

Azriel lands rather roughly after taking down half the branches in his path. With that landing he feels something pop out of place, and even feels something warm wash over his chest. He pushes himself to his feet and look at the liquid only to see that there was a cut on his neck a little too close to vital points for Azriel's tastes. But he pays that no mind and instead grips the arm that is currently throbbing with pain. He looks at the shape of everything and realizes that he only dislocated the shoulder. He lets out a sigh to show his relief before gritting his teeth and popping it back into place. For the moment he finds that he is having difficulty moving his arm, but that will pass. Instead he's more worried about the others.

"No! Why did you do that?!"

"Well that tells me that Cid and Cara are fine. Now where is the Princess and V?"

And with that he hears softer talking in roughly the same direction. He smiles as he walks through the trees to that location only to see Aria healing V's legs with a simple spell. He praises the gods for the fact that the woman knows some White Magic, because he doesn't know what kind of shape everyone is in. But he walks towards the two and examines them before deciding that they are not too injured, granted V looks like he's in pretty rough shape. "Are you two okay? Cid would kill me if anything happened to you, Aria." He then looks over to V and smiles before saying, "I'm grateful that you wanted to protect the Princess. But we can't afford to rest now. There's no doubt that soldiers will be here soon."

 

[Hazen Gregory]

This neck of the woods had always been a place that Ubi Ty had liked, in his day there were always things that either added up or didn't and this was the latter. Such a woods that was filled with an aura of darkness that resounded over everything. It was no wonder that nobody wanted to venture here and those that did rarely came out. Ubi knew that the real reason for that was the easy notion of getting lost and going crazy from the mass of plants and the fumes they gave off.

If you were weak it was also possible to get eaten by the array of monsters that were deeper into the forest. Like any other day Ubi had decided to take a stroll through the forest with his dragon companion Gordon and as usual he expected nothing more than the groan of the trees and what might have been hidden among them. Instead, he got a loud roar and the sound of machines or some kind of engine failing. He could only guess what was going on with all the noise but whatever it was, it wasn't too far from his current location.

"Let's check it out Gordon, maybe we can have some fun eh?? I love things like this!!!" Ubi Ty pulled on the pink suspenders that were attached to his tight black pants and floated across the decrepit floor of the forest toward, and after only a few minutes, neared what he and Gordon heard prior. A ship had crashed but the occupants weren't near it at all, well one of them was. Ubi was about to go looking for them all but Gordon had a sour look in his eyes.

"Meep??"

Ubi looked down, "What is it Gordon??" The dragon meeped frantically and scurried away into the forest and left Ubi Ty by himself. It traveled a way and took a few turns through the tress until the space near it was filled with people that he could sense. There was a woman in a gown. Right away the dragon hugged her leg and made a sound that was very similar to purring.

A bland expression slowly drew across Ubi Ty's face as his dragon partner went off and he looked more than a bit annoyed. "Gordon!?!?! What the hell is wrong with you?? We don't know who these people might be at all, for all you know they could be the Princess and....huh??"

The ship was in pretty bad shape but right ahead was a man on the ground and a woman held onto his hand. "What's going on here?? I sensed others in the forest but it looks like my dragon went to go see them..."

"Meeeeeeeep meep meeep meep..." Gordon snuggled the leg he held onto even closer and then let go just in case something was wrong Gordon wanted to make sure that everybody was okay, so he used a healing spell and directed it over area, the effect very visible as even the plants crushed by debris from the wreckage were restored. Random pieces had made it all the way over to even that location.

Ubi just laughed and sat in the air cross-legged. "This looks more than interesting, what is going on here hmm, I'd love to take part in whatever mischief you two are into." The woman must have been a dragoon, she had the tell-tale armor of one, she disgusted Ubi already but maybe she wasn't into killing dragons...

"Who are you guys anyway??"

 

[King Naruto]

Cid just looked down at Cara, smiling at her. Maybe it looked kinda mean from Cara's standpoint. The prince was just happy to see that she was that worried about him. He leaned forward and place his head on her forehead. "Hey like I told you before, I don't need a reason to help someone. As long your okay then i'm okay." It was nice to have someone worried this hard about him even if it was the same person who overexagerated his injuries over the years. It was a warm and tender moment between that two that rearely happened between them. His lips touched her forehead before leaning back on whatever. All of a sudden, a warm light fueled the area, healing anyone that happened to be injured even Cid.

His shoulder felt newer then before as he looked around to see a new figure. It was obvious that the man wasn't part of Alexandria or that would been a fire spell instead of a healing one. Now what was weird was that this man was only wearing pants and floating in the air. Cid had never seen anything like this man before but, it was a godsend seeing as the guy had helped. He stood up qcuik as possible while replying cheerily, "The name's Cid. We had a little accident ya know." Before more words could be spoken, the sound of a mog crying came out of left field as Shadow landed on Cid's head. He patted it's head as Marcus, Blank, Cinna's voice could be heard yelling about V and the Princess. Cinna was one that ran up to Cid though.

"Hey V, the Princess and the other guy aren't here. We've been running around looking for them on the Tantulus." Cinna stated with worry.

"Damn it. They gotta be in the forest somewhere. I gotta find them." Cid replied as he let go of Cara's hand.

 

[Eva]

"I'm not quite sure that the soldiers would come this far." Aria spoke as she stood up, dusting herself off. "The Evil Forest is a place full of monsters the likes of which no one truly understands; should they choose to follow, it would be very reckless of them. I do agree, however, that we must make haste; the ship must have landed somewhere not too far from here. We must go."

Aria noticed something at her leg. Reaching down and pulling her gown back a bit, she saw a small dragon hugging her leg, making a sort of purring sound. Letting out a small squeal, she immediately scooped it into her arms. "Why, hello there." She greeted it, lightly stroking its head. "I wasn't aware that there were dragons in this forest. Where did you come from, little one?" She asked it curiously, hugging it like it was a stuffed animal won at a fair.

~

With a small sigh, Cara stood up, turning to the new figure before them. Friend or foe? He had released a healing spell, so she made the assumption that he was a friend--for the moment. The first thing she did notice, however, was the lack of shirt. Her eyes lingered for a few seconds before she looked away, crossing her arms before she spotted him looking at her.

"Is there a problem?" She asked him with a raised eyebrow, though Cid already introduced himself, and then Cinna arrived on the scene with some bad news. "Then we should hurry and find them, there's no telling what's in this forest." She continued with a small sigh. "I am Caralynn Adelaide. A pleasure, I am sure." Cara reluctantly introduced herself to the shirtless man.

 

[Hazen Gregory]

Gordon wiggled in the woman's arms as she patted its head. The warmth from her touch made Gordon purr louder and if small dragon's could smile, he did...at least as close to a smile as possible by its mouth would allow. "I wasn't aware that there were dragons in this forest. Where did you come from, little one?" The dragon looked up at the woman all beautifully dressed in her gown and squeaked , shaking free from her grasp and pointing with its paw in the direction of Ubi Ty.

"Meep meep meep. Meeeeeep..." Gordon pointed at the direction again and ran back over to her, clutching at the end of her dress and moving off in the direction of his partner. It continued to meep and move into the forest, its adorable charm more than enough to cause both the lady that was nice and her two companions to follow. "Meep!!!"

~~~~~

Ubi sighed and rubbed the spot between his eyes before staring at Cid and then the dragoon that introduced herself as Cara. "Well I guess that's all you really have to tell me, but I'm sure there's more to it than you so happen to be letting on. My friend Gordon might already have found your friends, hopefully he didn't eat them or something awful like that. I'd feel really bad for you guys then."

"I love the name darling, I'll be sure to remember it." Ubi smiled broadly at her while speaking, his lips turning into a beacon on sensuality as his eyes bore into her hers. This woman was frankly delicious, looking amazing even in her armor. Ubi Ty loved to be around people that like himself were extremely gorgeous to the eyes. He had to admit that Cid looked just as good as Caralynn did...which made the situation even better.

A familiar sound caught Ubi Ty's attention and got louder as it neared. He knew that it was Gordon, and to his expected turn of events, Gordon wasn't alone and had brought people with him. "Ah, so you've come back Gordon darling, how wonderful." Something about Cid and this new woman that had arrived put Ubi on edge. he remembered working as a Dragoon for the castle before and on certain missions of protection and the like he'd met Aria the princess and Cid the prince too. It was no surprise that they didn't remember him.

Cara was different, he'd never met her even as a dragon knight but there were too many of them to judge the situation and how this had never happened.

"Meep. Meep." Gordon looked over at the black mog sitting on Cid's head and flapped its wings to land and perch on Cid's shoulder, where it turned to the mog and meeped at it. "Meep meeep meeeeep??" The mog knew what Gordon was saying so Ubi didn't bother to say anything about the two small monsters playing or talking, instead he turned his attention to the royalty in front of his face.

"Geez. You guys are crazy, let me guess you want to run off and be together or something?? so you stole a ship and tried to escape and crashed it?? That's a mess for sure if I'm right. I knew i should have went to see that play instead of coming here to the forest." Ubi slid a hand down his chest and actually stood on the ground instead of floating. "Come on, tell me what's really going on here..."

 

[DJQuackQuack]

As Princess Aria came into view, V was relieved to see her walking and for the most part, uninjured in a serious sense. As soon as she walked up to him, she was kind enough to cast a Heal spell, and the pain in his legs lessened a bit. It wasn't fully healed, but now V could walk without too much trouble. From over at the side, Azriel popped out and began checking up on the two of them. V found it hard to not jump in surprise with his sudden appearance, as this forest was not like those in fairy tales. Crazy monsters lurked everywhere, so letting your guard down for a moment could mean the end of you.

Before V could even get his bearings, Aria picked something up and began...talking to it? V was worried, for in the Forest of Evil, you don't go about picking up whatever walks up to you. It was not practical, more so when that creature happens to be as rare as a dragon.

After a minute of watching the scenario play through, V relaxed a tiny bit. This dragon was small, and seemed harmless at the moment. Plus, no wild animal would recognize some humans and approach them like a pet, so this creature had a high chance of being tamed.

V watched it jump from Aria's hands, directing us to follow it and began pulling Aria away. They were lost as is, so V decided it couldn't hurt to give this a chance. It was better than becoming plant food by staying still. After walking for a good 5 minutes, the dragon had led them into a clearing, shocking V as his comrades were all their.

There was one stranger standing among everyone, and V assumed this was the owner of the Dragon. Though he didn't give off the vibe of an Alexandrian soldier, the fact he was able to recognize Prince Cid and Princess Aria and make a rough guess of the situation had V on guard. It wasn't his place to answer the stranger, so V took up keeping watch over the area. While everyone did receive some sort of healing, the injuries would slow them down a bit.

His eyes darted from person to person, surveying the area around them for any unwanted arrivals. Just as he was about to suggest they relocate back to the Tantalus airship, he spotted movement heading towards Aria.

"Whoa whoa whoa!" V cried out, having no time to make a sensible warning. He pushed his worn out legs to the limit, dashing over to Aria. A strange, vine-like critter was snaking its way around Aria's feet. With no time for magic, V reached into this coat and pulled out his dagger. In a swift motion, V sliced the vine, severing the end closing in on Aria and causing the rest to wriggle frantically in pain.

"Hehe, hero saves the day. No need to thank-"

Oh, V really did it now. Without even any time to gloat, over ten vines shot out from the foliage, wrapping V up and leaving him helpless to do anything. One moment, he was in the clearing. The next, V found himself zooming through the forest, the light getting dimmer and dimmer as the trees blocked out the sky. He would try struggling, but to no avail. Even more vines were wrapping him up, and to make matters worse, a strange smelling pollen was in the air. With every breath he took, V slipped in and out of consciousness. Soon, he would be asleep, his last thoughts being...

"At least Baku doesn't get to hit me today..."

 

[Eva]

"Please wait!" Aria chased the dragon to its owner, and stopped to see Cara and Cid as well. "Thank goodness we're all alright." She let out a sigh of relief, though it wouldn't stay for too long; the mage had just apprehended a monster behind her. As she was about to thank him, he got dragged away into the forest.

Oh no...!

"Stay here with the princess, I'll go and save him." Cara instructed Cid sternly, taking out her spear as she did. Without waiting for an answer, Cara positioned herself away from the group, and Jumped high into the air. Breaking through several branches, it was only a matter of time before she was above the entire forest. Spotting a clearing, she landed and Jumped again, this time landing before something very interesting.

A somewhat huge monster was before her, its tentacles flaring before him. On its head, it held the mage hostage, and she saw that he was unconscious. Readying her spear, Cara took in a deep breath and pointed her weapon at it. She immediately jumped into the air, and as she descended, she twisted her body around, her spear aimed directly at the monster. She held her spear high and then threw it, landing on the ground lightly as the monster roared. To her dismay, it only escaped further into the forest.

Son of a bitch...! Cara gave chase.

~

"We must go! We cannot just stay here!" Aria urged the others, getting somewhat antsy. It was her fault, after all; if it wasn't for him, it would've been her that would have gotten captured. She was also getting somewhat fired up--she had never been in a battle before, and had always wished for the experience of one.

 

[Hazen Gregory]

"What the hell??"

In no time an entire assortment of people had showed up and it looked like they all knew one another. Ubi wanted to get more involved and ask questions about what was going on and why but he wasn't given the chance to do so. rather than stay and chat with the others as he desired to do, a mage had been taken away by some plant monster and shortly afterward was dragged off into the deep forest of evil. Ubi Ty waited a moment before deciding that he wanted to take chase and help, but knew that he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something horrible happened to the mage. Even if they weren't yet even really acquaintances it made no sense to be a person that stood back and did nothing.

"Lets go Gordon, we can help Cara take care of that thing right??" As usual Gordon meeped its reply and the two sped off into the forest, waving to the others to either group together and pay close attention, or follow the makeshift team deeper into the forest to save the mage. as Ubi zipped through the trees using his levitation, Gordon flew along side him at the same speed and turned and winked as the two made their way over to where Cara was inside of a clearing. Without warning Cara jumped up and used an attack that Ubi was quite familiar with but to her dismay her spear attack missed and the unconscious mage was dragged even further away into the forest.

All three of them took chase this time, but already Ubi had a plan. "Hell I might as well just get this over with, if not then we'll end up getting a an empty husk back of that mage." Ubi flew faster and circled around the monstrous plant growth that held the mage within its grasp and steadied himself behind it, unbeknownst to the monster itself. A blade formed in Ubi's hand that extended from a handle he had pulled out of a deep pocket in his pants.

"What a disgusting monster, I mean come on. Fire." Ubi placed out his hand and caused a stream of fire to billow toward the back of the monster, it burned away the plant matter along the first part of the cage, but it wasn't enough from the distance that Ubi was at. it was like bramble was still loosely attaching the cage together, so Ubi dashed forward and took a step to the side of the monster, cutting through numerous vines that apparently sensed him the closer to the monster he became. "Gotcha!!!" Ubi Ty slashed open the remaining fibers of the cage and then snatched the mage out of it, lifting him with one hand and jumping over the monster and back to where Cara and Gordon were.

He released the mage and sighed, the mage floating behind him on his own, just another simple use of levitation at hand. "Alright then, lets get this thing Cara...are you ready??"

 

[King Sora X]

It all happened so fast. Ali was shouting one minute, and then BOOM! The ship crashed. It crashed so hard that Alizarin pretty much flew outward, and found herself face first into a tree. And from the look of her surroundings, the entire gang was in the Forest of Evil. Of all the places that they could have gone, the Forest of Evil. The place will give ANY person the chills, no matter how brave or for a lack of better words, stupid.

Slightly suffering a headache, Alizarin noticed in addition to the prince, the kidnapped princess, V, and a few others that Ali didn't recognize. One of these new guys had a little pet dragon. And not to mention that the baby dragon's owner was like super hot. "Hey, Mr. Whitey. With the dragon." Alizarin called out as she obviously had quite the bruise on her head, "those are some sexy muscles you're rocking."

 

[King Naruto]

Cid Kinda just stood there as the rest of the gang arrived. He was glad to see that everyone was fine and that this baby dragon was getting along with Shadow. "Welp looks like the gang is all here." Cid smiled at everyone as they began talking back and forth. It was all fun and games until V got snatched up by some plant monster. It was so quick that Cid would have missed it if Aria and Cara hadn't said something. Ubi Ty was the first to get moving after V. Then Cara, Aria, and Alizarin were all on the move. Cid knew what had to come next and that he would need to help as well.

"Shadow, it's time to go. When we arrive, hide." Cid commanded his pet moggle. Dashing after the group, it wasn't long before the young prince was beside Ubi Ty. V was safe as of now thanks to the actions of this new person. It was nice to find people that wanted to help instead of brutally murder you. Cid removed both his swords at once and then cut straight through a vine that came toward him. He ran forward and then use his momentum to pull off a front flip, landing on a strong vine. He then did another jump, cutting through two vines before dropping infront of the plant monster. He slashed twice and then retreated backwards with a backflip.

 

[Mistearea]

As Azriel made his way towards the rest of the group, his eyes fell upon Ubi Ty, and something was trying to click. He knows that he's seen that man somewhere before, but he can't remember where exactly. Regardless he rests both of his arms on the hilts of his swords and listens to the group chat amongst themselves until he notices something odd happen. By the time he looks over to V, the Black Mage is already gone and plenty of the others are giving chase, thanks to the calls of Cara and Aria both. And then Cid himself quickly runs to join in on the battle only to arrive to late to rescue the mage thanks to the quick reactions of the man Ubi. Azriel puts this out of his mind and gives chase himself using the trees to aid in his jumps of getting from one spot to the next in a speedy fashion.

By the time that he arrives at the scene Cid manages to pull away after inflicting some damage on the monster, so Azriel pulls out both of his own swords and locks them together before throwing the blade itself. He ignores the urge to add magic into the mix and instead watches as the blade sinks into the side of the creature. Azriel takes this chance to jump and swing from one vine to the next until he hands with hand on the hilt of the weapon. He kicks off the creature with all of his might and feels himself flying through the air with a few chunks of the creature nearing his body thanks to the rather rough extraction of his blade. He finally flips in the middle of the and lands facing the creature while standing near Cid with the the weapon held behind his back.

"Remember to control your emotions, Cid. Attack too recklessly and V might not be the only one needing to be rescued from this creature."

 

[DJQuackQuack]

Blank​

"Are you sure about this, Baku?"

The fiery-redhead looked down at the parchment he was handed. Baku had just given him the instructions to seek out V in the forest, and give him Baku's new orders. And for V, his last orders.

Baku did not answer his question. They stood in the bridge of the Tantalus airship, Baku's back turned to Blank and his gaze overlooking the wreckage. It was salvageable, but it would take some time. Too much time. That is why Baku found it best that Tantalus declare this mission done, for their part. The Princess was with Prince Cid, and their entourage was more than powerful enough to protect them on the journey to Lindblum. However, he knew V was too stubborn to ditch a mission halfway, so this was the best course of action for everyone.

Understanding the silence was a sign of no more discussion, Blank took his leave. He dashed through the ship, making his way through the crowds of people trying to patch it up. As he passed by Marcus, he nodded as a sign he was off, and entered into the forest.

With luck, he had managed to find a couple of them gathered in a clearing. However, he soon took notice that they were frantic and moving off into the forest. As he followed them, he took notice of the various plant monsters attacking everyone, as well as the unconscious V hovering in the air.

Having no time to fully grasp the situation, Blank ran over to Alizarin, grabbing her by the shoulder in order to get her attention. Over the shouts and sounds of battle, he raised his voice so that she could hear his full explanation.

"Hey, Ali, you and everyone else need to get out of here! Tantalus needs to stay here and repair the ship, we can't escort the Princess to Lindblum, and we can't spare too many people!" He took a moment to pause, shoving the map Baku had given him into Alizarin's hands. "You'll need this to navigate out of here and to get to Lindblum. You and V are gonna stick with the Princess and make sure they get there safe. Got it?"

"Oh, and when V wakes up, be sure to tell him Baku isn't gonna forget about that beating he owes V."